a journey through our dvd shelves

Gigli (2003)

Ben
This is such a strange film. It looks like someone has taken what was meant to be a gangster drama and tried to turn it into a romantic comedy. The end result is just a big mess.

When Gigli was first released, it was derided as one of the worst films of all time, so obviously, I had to see it. Little did I know how much I would regret this purchase nearly a decade later when I wanted to do this blog.

Gigli follows a low level hitman for the mob, Larry Gigli (Ben Affleck). He is asked to babysit the mentally challenged brother (Justin Bartha) of a district attorney, in an attempt to get a mobster out of a possible prison sentence. Along for the ride is a plucky lesbian named Ricky (Jennifer Lopez), who has been sent to work with Larry, as there is not much faith in his ability. The three become reluctant friends during this hostage situation, as Larry and Ricky begin to rethink some of their life choices.

This is an ordinary film. The dialogue is atrocious, the lowlight being just before a sexual encounter, Lopez whispers ‘it’s turkey time, gobble gobble’. If that doesn’t get Ben Affleck in the mood, I don’t know what will. I also didn’t understand how Lopez’s character can just decide she is not a lesbian anymore. We meet one of her lovers in the film, so we know she is not making it up to keep hound dog Affleck at bay. I was under the impression that you can’t just turn on and off your sexuality, but she seemed far too easily swayed over to the side of wanting a bit of Affleck loving.

Gigli was notable as it was made during a time when Affleck and Lopez were dating in real life. They struggle to capture their off screen chemistry very well though in this picture. The only positive I can talk about is Justin Bartha. He is believable as the mentally challenged boy who doesn’t realise he is being held hostage by these two low level crims.

There’s not much to say about Gigli, it is universally regarded as one of the worst films ever made, and it certainly lives up to that tag.

Rating: F

Sally
In high school and early college my friends and I used to spend a lot of time at Blockbuster renting movies to take home watch on Friday nights. You know, because we were completely awesome and not at all lame. Anyway, my friend Kim and I really wanted to rent Gigli. It was lauded as the worst movie ever made, and we really wanted to see if it lived up to that reputation. However, we agreed that we did not want to pay full price for the rental and would wait until she got a half price coupon. Unfortunately, whenever she got a coupon it would expire before we got a chance to use it. Time passed, and our obsession with seeing Gigli faded until it was all but forgotten.

Now that I’ve actually watched Gigli I’m glad I didn’t see it when it first came out. If I had, I would have had to sit through this crapfest twice.

This is truly a terrible movie. The plot is laughable and boring. The dialogue is cringeworthy. There is zero chemistry between leads Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, which is perplexing given that the two were dating at the time (the two have better chemistry in the “Jenny from the Block” video). The one positive thing I can say about this movie is that while it is basically the same length as Battlefield Earth, it thankfully feels much shorter.